As soon as I stepped outside, I felt something was wrong. How much money could an American film make in Hollywood?
Should we shoot the Japanese devils? The computer isn't even turned on yet, can we change it later?
Just as he was about to turn around to remind Xing Baohua, he stopped himself. Who was Xing Baohua? He was one of the big shots in Hollywood. He owned an established film company. Whatever he said went. Even if they lost money, it was none of his business.
Why is there a conflict between the subject matter and the market?
Bucktooth had just returned to the capital and was sitting with his friends, eating hot pot and talking about his trip to central Shandong to show Xing Baohua his manuscript.
"Did that grandson revise the manuscript again?" The writer asked, putting down his chopsticks after eating a piece of meat, chewing as he did so.
Bucktooth glanced at it, nodded, and said, "But this time the changes are minor, just a few shots."
The writer swallowed the meat and said, "Tell me what kind of shot it is?"
So, Bucktooth Gang then told the story of Xing Baohua's need for the whole country to work together, showing scenes of compatriots at home and abroad contributing money and effort, and then filming a few scenes of people holding red flags, holding banners, and lining up to put money into the cash box.
The camera shifts to scenes of factory workers unfurling banners announcing donations of airplanes from various groups and cannons from different organizations or individuals.
The theme is actually to tell the audience that the People's Liberation Army is invincible, fearless of sacrifice at the front and overcoming difficulties to transport supplies at the rear.
It conveys a message to the world: don't bully us.
Our unity is invincible; no other country in the world can offer such selfless support.
After listening to what Bucktooth Gang had to say, the writer nodded and said, "I underestimated him; this kid's awareness is quite high!"
Ma Zhangyan said, "It's not that he's highly enlightened, but rather that he has foresight. Otherwise, he wouldn't be so rich. Also, stop calling him 'grandson' all the time. Show some respect. He's our benefactor now; we're counting on him for our livelihood in the future."
“I can’t change it, I’m used to it. But I won’t keep talking about it. A while ago, a friend told me a really funny story that was related to this guy.”
Ma Zhangyan asked, "Is it about tiling the Great Wall?"
The writer clapped his hands and laughed, "That's right, you wouldn't believe it! When I heard about this, I was overjoyed! I was absolutely thrilled. Some guy surnamed Mou showed me a photo of himself with the writer and said that this guy funded a tile factory to tile the Great Wall, and the tile factory is even planning to go public?"
Ma Zhangyan shook his head with a smile, guessing that someone was using Xing Baohua's name to scam money. Of all things to scam, why offer to tile the Great Wall? I want to tile my house too; would I really try to scam someone else to do that?
Bucktooth Gang said, "These days, scammers are getting more and more sophisticated. A friend of mine got ripped off in Japan. A local friend dragged him into some kind of scam called 'Flower Bar,' which offers cashback on purchases. It's like you spend 100 yen on something, and after a certain period of time, you get your 100 yen back. It's like you didn't spend any money, just wasted some time."
"This has been reported before. The top executives of that organization have all disappeared. I guess their backers wiped out everyone who was setting up the front. The reports didn't go into details, but it's pretty much true that they were eliminated," the writer said.
When it comes to international events, these three lose their composure and become energetic again, eating hot pot and drinking wine while analyzing international events.
The writer lamented, "Tell me, what were they thinking? How could they design such a trap? Luckily, it was the Japanese who were trapped! I heard they lost hundreds of billions over there. If this had happened in China, how many people would have been killed? I need to find some information and write a cautionary tale."
"You'd better stop writing. What if you write something too realistic and the Japanese arrest you again, claiming you're the mastermind? You'd be so wronged!"
"They dare? I'm penniless, not like I have hundreds of billions."
Gangzi chuckled, showing his big teeth, and said, "You know what, you actually do have them."
"Get lost, that's for women."
A few days later, Gangzi and his crew had already headed to the Changbai Mountain area to film some scenery scenes. The actors would come later. This time, Ma Zhangyan came along. The writer didn't come because he thought it was too cold. He even made a fuss about going to Japan to gather some material to write a cautionary book.
Gangzi introduced his friend to the writer so that he could have someone to look after him. Although Gangzi's friend was a bit poor from being scammed, at least he could be taken care of.
When Gangzi arrived in the Liaodong area, he felt immense pressure.
The crew consisted of over a hundred people and more than twenty vehicles of various sizes. He was busy every day, afraid of missing anything.
Fortunately, two assistant directors were brought in from the premiere to help out, one to manage the actors and the other to manage the equipment. Ma Zhangyan was in charge of the script and also helped manage logistics.
The crew had a lot of minor issues, but fortunately they were all dealt with in a timely manner. Bucktooth Gang lacked experience, but fortunately Xing Baohua was willing to spend money to help him gain experience.
So they put a lot of effort into hiring local extras, regardless of gender, starting with a thousand people, paying them five yuan a day and providing one meal.
Five yuan a day, that's about the same as what you'd earn as a construction worker in the city. There's hardly any work in winter, so I'm just staying home and hibernating.
The film crew is said to be staying here for two months. In addition to local help in recruiting, villagers also invited their friends and relatives, and tens of thousands of people signed up.
The scene was a sea of people. Seeing so many people, Ma Zhangyan asked Baoya Gang, "A thousand people are enough for that kind of human wave tactic?"
“The camera is only so big, a thousand people are enough. We originally wanted to ask the army for help, but we don’t need to this time. The villagers are also very supportive of us. I think we can add five hundred more.”
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